[tla0126]

Hello everyone, I was curious if anyone had any advice for me. It has just been me and my male Rottie Beau most of his life. My boyfriend and I just moved in together a month and a half ago and Beau has done great. He loves my boyfriend, so no problems there. Well, we decided to adopt a dog from the local shelter and we picked one out on Saturday and scheduled a meeting for him and Beau. He is a 1 1/2 yr old male Chow mix who is an absolute sweetheart. We took Beau up to the shelter to meet him to make sure they would get along ok, and things were fine. They pretty much ignored each other so we decided to go ahead and bring him home. Well, once we got our entourage in the car, Beau started to get a bit jealous, didn't really want our new family member in his space and growled a little bit. They parted and things were fine the rest of the way home. Well, Beau is defintely trying to show his dominance and that he was there first. He growls when he eats (I put Beau in his kennel where he usually eats), and Samson (the new guy) is just walking around not even paying attention. Or he will be laying on the ground or walking around and Beau will push down on Sam's back and kind of air mount him.

I know that especially with two males, there could potentially be a fight. I really don't forsee this happening because Samson, up until now, has seemed so docile. What I want to prevent is Sam being scared of Beau and thinking that I brought him into a situation where I'm not going to protect him. I want him to fit in and feel loved, and I also want Beau to know that we aren't going to love him any less. Thank you for any advice or input.